Formation of hybrid heterostructures for energy harvesting applications

In an attempt to identify solutions to advance net-zero energy activities and accelerate the deployment of cutting-edge low-carbon technologies, hybrid approaches for solar energy harvesting and engineering materials have been developed. In this study, two different forms of TiO 2 were synthesized and applied as electron transfer layers (ETL) in Perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In addition, double-doped sputtered NiO was used and the fabricated NiO/TiO 2 heterostructures were examined for their photocatalytic activities against the decolorization of methylene blue (MB). The two forms of TiO 2 were the 1-D TiO 2 nanorods (TiO 2 -NRs), synthesized using a hydrothermal technique, and the 3-D mesoporous TiO 2 (m-TiO 2 ) synthesized by spin-coating. The PSC formed by the 1-D TiO 2 -NRs as ETL showed the same open-circuit voltage under solar illumination but twice the short-circuit current when compared to the PSC having the conventional m-TiO 2 as ETL. The photocatalytic activity of the 1-D NiO/TiO 2 -NRs heterostructure was 23wt% faster than the respective 3-D NiO/TiO 2 one, while inducing about 83wt% more MB degradation. These effects were attributed to the different effective surface areas and the diode properties of the NiO/TiO 2 heterostructures. The presented results provide a direct comparison between heterostructures synthesized via hybrid routes for optoelectronic applications in the fields of energy harvesting and photocatalysis.